Kathleen Funchion urges delay on bill, demands survivor consultation
Kathleen Funchion challenged proposed legislation, calling it unnecessary and saying members have not been given a fair opportunity to debate amendments. She urged the minister to halt the process and impose at least a three-month delay so survivors can be consulted and their concerns addressed.
Lack of opportunity to debate amendments
Funchion criticised the lack of time to discuss amendments in detail, calling the situation "unfair and wrong." She rejected the minister's suggestion that solutions were not in the amendments and said some of the proposed amendments would help address the issues.
Call to delay the bill
She argued that the correct course is to delay the legislation and "put the brakes on this," requesting at least three months to allow solutions to be developed and considered. Funchion said that if the political will exists, changes can be made, pointing to recent COVID decisions as examples of that capacity.
Concerns over survivors and sealed records
Funchion warned that proceeding as planned would set the wrong path for dealing with survivors and stressed opposition to sealing records. She insisted survivors must have consultation and the chance to explain directly why they feel strongly about the records and about the involvement of TSLA.
Direct appeal to the minister
She pressed the minister to listen to survivors' voices and to give amendments proper consideration before moving forward, arguing this is necessary to ensure the right outcome for survivors and the integrity of the process.
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I will be brief because I know we are coming up against the clock and just to reiterate I really have an issue with the fact that we have not had the opportunity to discuss our amendments in detail regardless of the position you set out at the start minister. I just think it is so unfair and so wrong that we are not getting at least that opportunity. You said there in your last response that you wanted to look for solutions and that the solutions were not necessarily in this legislation. Now I don't know did you mean in your legislation or in the amendments that I and others have put forward. Now I certainly don't believe in this legislation. I don't believe it's necessary. I don't believe it's a good piece of legislation. But I do believe my amendments and other people's amendments here as well do go somewhat to addressing the issues. But if you are looking for solutions and you acknowledge that they're not in this, that is the exact reason why you should be putting the brakes on this, halting it and giving it at least three months so that we can put the solutions forward and so that you know fully that you're 100% doing the right thing. There is, if the political will is there to do something, anything can be done. And we've seen that often over the last number of weeks in relation to COVID and various decisions that were made. So I just want to reiterate that point. If the political will is there to do something, it can definitely be done. And Minister, this is so wrong and I really want to stress that I think you're putting yourself in a really difficult position and you're setting out on the wrong path totally with how you're going to be able to deal with survivors going forward by this being the start. I think the right thing to do is to delay this and to get it right and to ensure that we don't seal those records and to ensure that all the survivors have a chance to have consultation and have their voices heard. And then you can hear directly from them as well why they feel so strongly about the records and about the involvement of TSLA. Thank you. Thank you.
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